THROUGHOUT THIS BOOK I use the term “Western” to refer to the culture of classical antiquity that arose in Greece and Rome; survived the collapse of the Roman Empire; spread to western and northern Europe; then during the great periods of exploration and colonization of the fifteenth through nineteenth centuries expanded to the Americas, Australia, and areas of Asia and Africa; and now exercises global political, economic, cultural, and military power far greater than the size of its territory or population might otherwise suggest. While the chapter titles reflect key elements of this common Western cultural tradition, they should not imply that all European states always shared exactly the same values, or that these core institutions and practices were unchanging over some 2,500 years of history. While I grant that critics would disagree on a variety of fronts over the reasons for European military dynamism and the nature of Western civilization itself, I have no interest in entering such contemporary cultural debates, since my interests are in the military power, not the morality, of the West.
Consequently, I have deliberately concentrated on those West-East fault lines that emphasize the singular lethality of Western culture at war in comparison to other traditions that grew up in Asia, Africa, and the Americas. These valid generalizations should not imply that at times there were not real differences among particular European states themselves or that Western and non-Western cultures were either monolithic or always at odds with each other. And while I discuss larger issues of government, religion, and economy, my primary aim is to explain Western military power, not the general nature and evolution of Western civilization at large.
This is not a book, then, written for academic specialists. Instead, I have tried to offer a synthesis of Western society at war for the general reader across some 2,500 years of history that concentrates on general trends, rather than an original work of primary research within a defined historical period. I have used formal scholarly citations in parentheses in the text only for the longer direct quotations—although detailed information concerning factual material is derived from primary sources and secondary books and articles discussed at the conclusion of the book.
I have many to thank. Sabina Robinson and Karin Lee of CSU Fresno’s Honors Program were effective proofreaders. Katherine Becker, a doctoral student in Ohio State University’s military history program, helped with editing and bibliographical duties. Once more my colleague in classics at CSU Fresno, Professor Bruce Thornton, read the entire manuscript and saved me from numerous errors. Dr. Luis Costa, dean of the School of Arts and Humanities at CSU Fresno, provided a timely research grant that allowed me to visit a number of libraries and to see the manuscript through final submission. I owe him once more a debt of gratitude.
I have also learned a great deal about Western warfare from the works of Geoffrey Parker, John Keegan, and Barry Strauss, and from conversations and correspondence with Josiah Bunting III, Allan Millett, Geoffrey Parker, John Lynn, and Robert Cowley. I wish to thank Charles Garrigus, Donald Kagan, John Heath, Steven Ozment, and Bruce Thornton for their continued friendship. Donald Kagan and Steven Ozment have taught me much about Western civilization in the past decade; both have served as model custodians of our cultural heritage in often scary and depressing times. Correspondence with Rita Atwood, Nick Germanicos, Debbie Kazazis, Michelle McKenna, and Rebecca Sinos was of great help during the writing of the manuscript.
Ms. M. C. Drake, professor of theater arts and design at CSU Fresno, drew the original version of the maps. I owe her a great deal of thanks. My literary agents, Glen Hartley and Lynn Chu, have been friends for more than a decade and have given me advice and support that I could not have found elsewhere. They have been my lifeline from a rather isolated farm south of Fresno to the complex and often baffling world of New York. By the same token, I owe my editor at Doubleday, Adam Bellow, appreciation, for the present book and for others in the past.
My wife, Cara, proofread the final typeset manuscript; once more I thank her for her continual support—and for the maintenance of sanity in a household of three teenagers, six dogs, seven cats, a bird, one rabbit, a creaking 120-year-old farmhouse, and sixty acres of money-losing trees and vines. My three children, Susannah, William, and Pauline, once more took up many of my responsibilities on our farm and in our household that helped to allow me to finish this book.
V.D.H.
Selma, California
September 2000